The invention relates to the application of finishes. More specifically, the invention is directed to fluid finish application from a finish reservoir, including a hose or tube to dispense finish from the reservoir to an applicator.
A variety of painting or finish applicator systems may be found in the market, on the shelves of home centers and hardware stores. The prior systems are known to draw or press a fluid finish from a can, bucket, or other reservoir and through a hose to an applicator in the form of a brush, a roller, or a pad. The reservoir may be an open container and a pump may be used to draw or suck a finish from the container. Alternatively, the reservoir may be a pressurized vessel from which a finish is pressed out with air pressure.
A pressurized fluid reservoir is commonly known and configured as a lawn and garden sprayer, for example, and includes a liquid-dispensing tank or reservoir that is connected, by means of a length of flexible hose, to a spray wand. The dispensing tank also includes a means for pressurizing its liquid contents, typically a hand-operated air pump assembly. Common prior pressurized tanks include a dip tube that extends to the bottom of the tank. The fluid contents of the tank are pressed through the dip tube and out of the tank when the tank is pressurized by air pressure. The flexible hose is commonly connected with the dip tube direct the fluid from the tank and to an applicator as desired. Various methods are used to make the connection between the flexible hose and the dip tube, including various hose clamps and alternatively, various compression screw fittings.
Unfortunately, prior methods of connecting the flexible hose with the dip tube include some problems. The prior connection methods are expensive to assemble for the manufacturer and ultimately the customer. The prior connections are also subject to failure, including fluid leakage. As a person uses a pressure tank, the dispensing hose is pulled, bent, and twisted at the connection with the dip tube. This tugging tends to pull the dispensing hose away from the dip tube, even in the presence of a metal band hose clamp and the like. The problem increases with increased use and with rough handling; lack of care. Other than the dispensing hose being damaged, the top of the dip tube, where the dispensing hose connects, may break or otherwise fail.
When the finish flows through the hose from the reservoir to the applicator, the finish is ultimately transferred to a surface by a surface contacting device. The applicator typically includes an applicator head with a handle and some surface contacting device, which may include a brush, a roller, a pad, or the like. A typical path of delivering the finish is to include the applicator head, so the fluid finish flows through the head from the hose and to the surface contacting device. Thus, the finish must contact the applicator head and, in fact, accumulates inside the head. This results in the applicator head being one more item of equipment that the user must clean. One will not typically dispose of the applicator head instead of cleaning it because the head is not a “throw away” item.
Further, the path of the fluid finish through the applicator head may include large passageways in which the finish may collect as in small reservoirs within the applicator head. The common use of a finish path that passes through the head, including its reservoirs, wastes finish and increases the mess of cleaning. This is not merely an obvious inconvenience and expense, it is also an unnecessary environmental burden.
Thus, a need to improve stain and sealant applicator systems is readily understood.